The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) says Original Sin is "the sin by which the first human beings disobeyed the commandment of God, choosing to follow their own will rather than God's will. As a consequence they lost the grace of original holiness, and became subject to the law of death; sin became universally present in the world. Besides the personal sin of Adam and Eve, original sin describes the fallen state of human nature which affects every person born into the world, and from which Christ, the 'new Adam,' came to redeem us." God created man to share fully in His glory and holiness. Unfortunately, our first parents freely chose to seek something beyond what God offered.

Unlike personal sin, original sin is contracted not committed. God created Adam with original holiness and integrity. These free gifts were not intended for Adam alone; they were intended for all mankind. CCC 404 says, "By yielding to the tempter, Adam and Eve committed a personal sin, but this sin affected the human nature that they would then transmit in a fallen state." If Adam had not sinned, then all men and women would have received a soul and human nature filled with original holiness and integrity. Instead, we contracted original sin and a corrupted human nature from our first parents.

Do you think God made a mistake in allowing us, the descendants of Adam and Eve, to lose original holiness and integrity and to contract original sin? The Our Sunday Visitor's Encyclopedia of Catholic Doctrine answers this question. "Human beings require nurturing, including moral formation, from their parents as well as the adult community at large; and, starting with the immediate offspring of Adam and Eve, how useful would it have been to entrust children in a state of original holiness to the nurturing of parents who were not? Did it, and does it, not make better sense that all concerned be universally certain of their inherited turning-away from God, so as to be alert to their need for reconciliation with Him?" We need to trust God's wisdom and not fall into the same trap our first parents did. God knows what's right and what's wrong, what works and what doesn't work. Don't look for things beyond what He gives us.

Can you think of any man or woman, past or present, who did not contract Original Sin? Here's a clue. There are two. Jesus is one. Mary, His mother, is the other.

When the Holy Spirit came upon Mary, God became man in her womb. Although, God the Son became man, His human soul was not conceived with original sin. Why? God is perfect in both His divinity and humanity. St. Paul declares in Col 2:9, "For in Him dwells the whole fullness of the deity bodily." God cannot sin. Only man can sin. This leads to the question, why wasn't Mary born with original sin? Not only is Jesus Mary's Son, but He is her Savior. Jesus saved His mother in a unique way. By His grace, He preserved her from the stain of original sin. CCC 490 says, "To become the mother of the Savior, Mary 'was enriched by God with gifts appropriate to such a role.' The angel Gabriel at the moment of the annunciation salutes her as 'full of grace.' In fact, in order for Mary to be able to give the free assent of her faith to the announcement of her vocation, it was necessary that she be wholly borne by God's grace." Because Jesus preserved His mother from original and personal sin, Mary was able to freely and without apprehension give her consent to become the Mother of God.

On December 8, 1854, Pope Pius IX proclaimed the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. "We declare, pronounce, and define that the doctrine, which holds that the most Blessed Virgin Mary at the first instant of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of Almighty God, in virtue of the merits of Christ Jesus, the Savior of the human race, was preserved immaculate from all stain of original sin, has been revealed by God, and on this account must be firmly and constantly believed by all the faithful."

Most non-Catholic Christians cite Rom 3:23 ("All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.") to reject the Church's teaching that Mary remained sinless throughout her life. Two points: 1. Jesus, infants, young children, and the mentally handicapped are exceptions; why can't Mary be an exception? She is. 2. The word "all" can be used in a collective or distributive sense. A collective sense means a large portion of a group. If I say to a friend, "Everyone from St. Louis was at last night's game," I don't mean 100% of all the people in St. Louis were there. If I did, I would be using "all" in a distributed sense. The word "all" in a distributive sense would mean each and every person. In 3:23, Paul is using "all" in a collective sense not in a distributive (absolute) sense. [If you read Rom 3:9-10 followed by Ps 14: 3, 5, you will validate the Bible's use of the word "all" in a collective sense.]

In Ex 25:10-22, God creates the Ark of the Covenant perfectly to hold the Ten Commandments. Would not God also create perfectly the Ark of the New Covenant? Mary is the Ark of the New Covenant; for she carried God Himself in her womb for nine months.

All Christians should find comfort and strength in the knowledge that a mere mortal, through the grace of God, lived her life without succumbing to sin. Like our Blessed Mother we too can use God's free gift of grace to do His will and avoid sin.

For more insight read CCC paragraphs 402-09, 411, 416-19, 490-93. Also, pull out your "Catholic" Bible and reference Gn 3:15; Ex 25:10-22; Ps 14:3, 5; Is 7:14; Mic 5:2-3; Mt 1:22-23; 22:37; Lk 1:28-30, 42, 49; Rom 3:23; Col 2:9.